U.S. at Odds With NATO Allies Over Ukraine’s Membership

President Biden remained at odds with other NATO leaders over Ukraine’s membership, as the military alliance’s annual summit kicked off just hours after gaining a boost from Sweden’s prospective accession.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials had hoped to reach an agreement on the wording about Ukraine’s potential membership by the time the summit commenced on Tuesday. But as the heads of government and state arrived in the Lithuanian capital, the critical portion of the meeting’s official communiqué—as little as one sentence in a multipage document—remained unresolved, according to diplomats close to the talks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky blasted the alliance for its “unprecedented and absurd” ambiguity in setting a time frame for Ukraine’s accession, which he has long argued is the best way to deter Russian aggression.

“On the way to Vilnius, we received signals that certain wording is being discussed without Ukraine,” he said on Twitter. “It seems there is no readiness neither to invite Ukraine to NATO nor to make it a member of the Alliance.”

“For Russia, this means motivation to continue its terror,” he added. “Uncertainty is weakness.”